


Always the Photographer, Never the Subject

by In_the_aroace_brigade



Category: The Octonauts (Cartoon)
Genre: Feeling unneeded, Gen, Self Confidence Issues, mild anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-27 12:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18194330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/In_the_aroace_brigade/pseuds/In_the_aroace_brigade
Summary: Dashi loves being behind the camera, but sometimes she wishes that she could be in the picture too.





	Always the Photographer, Never the Subject

Dashi held up her camera, aiming it at the other Octonauts. "Everybody say...Seaweed!" she called out. 

"SEAWEED!" And with that picture, another mission was done; another life saved.

 

A few hours later Dashi was back onboard the Octopod, uploading all the pictures she had taken, smiling at all the reminders of the missions. A few goofy pics were on the camera as well; Captain Barnacles and Kwazii having a handstand competition, the Vegimals Annual Bake-Off, and even one of Tweak at work in the launch bay. Dashi carefully linked those pictures to the appropriate crew member's files so they could look at them any time they liked. Everyone ended up getting pics sent to their files...everyone but her. 

Dashi sighed while she stared at her own meager file of personal pictures. She loved being the photographer for the Octopod- exploring new places, getting pictures of creatures that no one has ever seen before- but it seemed like everyone else's time aboard the Octopod was documented but hers. She had even skipped the last 2 annual crew member picture days because everyone else was too busy to take a picture of her, and the pictures were never as good on a timer as she knew she could do herself. It didn't matter much, she looked about the same that she always did, but it was the principle of the thing. At least then she would have something to send home to her family to show that she was doing okay here. They had to content themselves with her name attached to photographs in the latest nature magazine instead.

Besides, it wasn't as if she was one of the ones out there saving lives or helping injured creatures. Most days she just operated the Octopod's computers and took pictures, nothing special. The other members of the team all had some sort of knowledge or skill that served the team well. Some days Dashi felt that anyone could do her job, and that her spot on the team could always be made expendable. Anyone could operate a camera (okay, maybe anyone except Shellington), and she knew Captain Barnacles could maneuver the ship far better than she could. She would enjoy her time here while she could, and when they finally decided to get rid of her, she would thank them for all the memories. And memories would be all anyone would have of her at this rate.

"Dashi, are you alright? You look sad." Peso's voice came from behind her. Dashi quickly closed out of her file and went back to her editing program. "I'm fine Peso, just looking over the pictures from the missions this past week." She scrolled through them to show him, eager to put her melancholy moment behind her. 

"Wow you have a lot of pictures of all the creatures we helped, and of all the crew! You even managed to get Kwazii to stand still long enough for a few of these." Both Octonauts chuckled at the thought of the extremely active ex-pirate.

"I have to go drop my camera off in my quarters Peso, but you can keep looking at these while I am gone. Just be careful not to delete anything." Dashi dropped down the hatch with her camera, leaving Peso alone on the bridge. He kept surveying the pictures, but something seemed off to him. The pictures looked fantastic as they always did with a great attention to detail; Peso wasn't sure what he thought could be missing...or could it be someone? In a flash he realized who was missing from ALL the pictures this week, and who was likely missing from the rest of the pictures in these albums. He looked over at the hatch that Dashi had disappeared down, a plan forming in his mind. He waddled across to the other tube and slide down to the launch bay in search of a particular carrot-loving mechanic.

Dashi popped her head up a moment later and found an empty HQ. "Guess he got bored of the pictures. At least I can get back to editing and sending them off to be studied. Maybe I can make front cover this time, wouldn't that be something to show my family back home." She busied herself at her workstation, unaware of the plotting going down a few decks below her. 

 

Dashi raised her camera to take the picture to commemorate their latest successful mission. "Just a sec there Dashi, I have a better idea." Tweak winked at Peso and swam to the Gup C, pulling a strange contraption that seemed to be wired to a tripod. Tweak swam over with it and set the tripod in the sand. "Can I see your camera for a moment, Dashi?"

Dashi handed it over, mildly protesting. "Oh, don't worry about putting it on a tripod. The pictures always come out a little blurry with the ocean current and all..." She trailed off as Tweak hooked a few wires into her camera and unwound a long wire, carefully laying it in the sand while dragging Dashi along with her. She pushed Dashi into a spot in the picture and handed her the strange contraption. 

"Here you go, this camera control will let you take a picture from over here, and you can even adjust the camera with these knobs!" Tweak showed her how to move the camera around on the tripod, as well as what button to press to take a picture. 

"Thanks Tweak, I don't know what to say! I guess I can finally get in a picture with you all for once." Dashi smiled brightly. 

Captain Barnacles spoke up. "Well, you take such good pictures of all of us that we wanted you to be able to look back on some memories of your own. Peso here came up with the idea and Tweak was able to build this down in her workshop. It wasn't easy keeping it from you, we had to get Kwazii and Shellington to distract you from it." The other Octonauts murmured agreement, Kwazii striking a pose as he did so.

"Well in that case, I guess there is nothing else to say except...Seaweed! Smile everyone!" Dashi made a slight adjustment to the angle of her camera and took the picture. She looked at it in her gallery and grinned. For once, the Octonauts were all present.


End file.
